It is Spring of 2012, and the most amazing archaeological discovery of our time-- a sarcophagus from an ancient civilization that predates the Egyptian Pyramids by more than fifty thousand years--is being broadcast as a live public exhibit on national TV.

But in their haste to reveal a glimpse of what could be the origin of mankind, the scholars of the OBARI Foundation instead unleash an ancient plague upon the modern world.

This is the age-old story of the curious--and of those who must race to close the door on what should never have been opened . . .

This is PANDORA, the End of Days...

We caught up with writer, Peter J. Ang, to talk about PANDORA: End of Days.

Horror News Network:   How did you come up with the concept for this comic?

Peter J. Ang: Since High School, I’ve stayed away from my best friend’s extreme collection of horror movies and books. Always preferring action oriented stories, most notably the books of Tom Clancy were my favorite. Until I was drawn into the survival horror genre because of a little videogame franchise called Resident Evil.

For years, I had accumulated a wealth of inspiration from various sources of the genre. Endless hours spent cultivating my ideal scenarios for survival horror, mixing elements of explosive action and my affinity for the darker side of ancient historical myths and legends.

So once the opportunity presented itself, I wasted no time finalizing the script for Pandora: End of Days.

Horror News Network: What did you find the most challenging about mixing the Mayan apocalypse legend and zombies?

Peter J. Ang: To avoid exposing major spoilers, let’s just say that I too delve into conspiracy theories here and there. Especially in regards to secret societies and ongoing debates about how to interpret ancient cultural warnings of an impending doom. The most challenging part was using real archeology footnotes about the Mayan legends and mixing it with my own doctored version of history without seeming too outrageous.

Just a glance at Mayan hieroglyphs gave the artist (Jin) so much to go with in terms of zombie character designs. Compared to the more popular Egyptian hieroglyphs, the Mayans definitely were more of a horror buff…

Horror News Network: Can you tell us a bit about the main characters in the book?

Peter J. Ang: The prodigy daughter of Professor Saber, Katie excels in her academics at a young age and has been granted special affiliation with the OBARI Foundation to aid her father in archeological field works.

She narrowly escapes from the New Jersey World History museum where the plague outbreak began, and now must race against time to retrieve a special artifact that could potentially be the key to stopping this ancient evil from consuming the entire world.

Other main/supportive characters are; Jet Ishimura and Chelsea Martinez of Homeland Security’s First Response counter terrorist unit; J6. As you can guess from the cover of volume 2, they are the ones who end up fighting the 1st “horseman” of the apocalypse.

Horror News Network: What can readers expect in terms of blood and gore?

Peter J. Ang: To me, what separates a great survival horror game or movie from a shoot-‘em-up horror action story is the level of claustrophobia one can impose on you. Gore is definitely essential in our work, as it adds an emphasis on the violent scenes. A few pages into the comics, and readers will get the idea that, 15 years ago, this would’ve been way above the PG13 rating.

Horror News Network: Jin Song Kim’s art is absolutely incredible in this book. How did you hook up with him?

Peter J. Ang: Having already published a previous comic book more than 7 years ago, I first met Jin back in 2001 when I had been scouring for suitable artists to work with. I knew he was the one I just could not ignore when, while the other artists took days at a time to sketch a few pages once I sent the script, Jin emailed a whole page within 10 minutes at a time with even higher quality of artwork.

Even during the long interim after our 1st comic book series (Counter Ops), we had remained close friends since, much in part because of all the artists that tried out for me, he also happened to live 20 minutes away. Destiny I guess…

Horror News Network: What has impressed you the most with this artwork?

Peter J. Ang: As great as Jin is when it comes to drawing in Manga/Anime style art, his real specialty is actually drawing life-like illustrations of people. Y’know, like those talented guys you see in busy streets drawing a passersby for money? One day, he had actually surprised me by sculpting a resin statue of one of our comic book characters. “Insane!” was all I could think and say.

As for the art style he chose for Pandora: End of days, this was a definite challenge to finalize. We both agreed, since it’s black & white, he’d be drawing Manga style. But as a fan of survival horror video games himself, he didn’t want to deny a more graphic and organic element.

Horror News Network: Is there a chance to have a follow up to this series?

Peter J. Ang: Well originally, we played around with the idea of waiting until January 2012 before releasing the graphic novel. So we could match the real timeline perfectly within the storyline, and release multiple volumes as well. However, realizing how much time and effort it takes to market a book effectively… I decided against it.

Volume 2 should be coming out by September or early October.

Horror News Network: With such a cool concept, has there been anyone knocking at the door to take PANDORA: End of Days to other types of media?

Peter J. Ang: Well hey thanks! Actually, we’ve only released our 1st volume just May this year. So hopefully, additional exposure we get can lead to other platforms of entertainment.

Horror News Network: Where can we find out more about PANDORA: End of Days?

Peter J. Ang: Our official website is: www.Pandora-EOD.com or www.facebook.com/Pandora.endofdays

Horror News Network: In closing, what would you like to say about PANDORA: End of Days?

Peter J. Ang: Thank you for being interested in our new zombie survival horror comic book series! Volume 01 is out now for reading on your Desktop, and on all mobile e-readers, tablets, and smartphones with the Barnes & Noble NOOK App. Read also on Amazon’s Kindle.

Horror News Network: Thank you for your time, Peter. Best of luck with Pandora: End of Days. Comment on this interview here.